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Biggles and the Black Mask/plot
Biggles Remembers Biggles notices an ex-R.A.F. officer Roderick Canson with a record for dishonesty has recently received a licence to operate an air transport company. He wonders whether a man with a crooked streak can ever straighten out. Biggles drops in on Canson's base at Millham and learns that his outfit is not his own. His is a subsidiary of a budget holiday company, Sunnitours Ltd. Suspicions Biggles is still suspicious. At Millham, he had spotted Canson driving a Rolls. Moreover, he has two ex-airmen working with him, Tomlin and Rawlings. Both had been involved with Canson in various offences while in service. Biggles asks Ginger to book himself a holiday with Sunnitours. Ginger Sets Off Ginger sets off for Nice with his tour group flown by Canson on the de Havilland Dove operated by Sunnitours. On arrival, he decides to drop out of the group on the pretext of wanting to do some shopping in Nice. He follows Canson first to the Hotel Ruhl and then into Nice old town. He spots Canson going into a photo shop in the Rue Baldini. What Happened in Nice Canson leaves the photo shop with a portfolio. Unfortunately, a beggar, an old woman in black, has been acting as sentry and gives the alarm. Some ruffians appear from nowhere and attack Ginger. Ginger breaks free and runs off. Emerging from the old town, he takes a taxi to the hostel. Food for Thought The next morning, as planned, Biggles notifies Sunnitours with a fake message that Ginger's brother is ill, This would give Ginger the pretext to get a special ride home from Nice. Ginger writes a coded message for Biggles on the windowsill of his room and then departs with Canson who has come to fetch him. On board the Dove on the way to Millham, Canson questions Ginger aggressively, demanding to know what he was doing at the Rue Baldini but when Ginger refuses to divulge anything, Canson warns him that he has "friends" waiting when the aircraft lands. Mr X Ginger is brought blindfolded to a big house near Millham where a frail elderly man wearing a black mask who calls himself "Mr X" questions him. Ginger gives away little but hints that he knew Canson who had been court-martialed for dishonest acts in the R.A.F. The old man is not satisfied with the answers and has GInger locked in a room. Biggles is Worried Biggles gets worried when Ginger doesn't return. Bertie flies off to Millham and notices that the Dove has returned, which only deepens the mystery. The Mystery Deepens The next morning, still with no sign of Ginger, Biggles and Bertie fly to Nice to make enquiries. At the hostel, they take a look at Ginger's room and see Ginger's coded message. From the airport they confirm that Ginger had indeed left with Canson and Rawlings. What Next? The next morning back in England, with Ginger still missing, Biggles decides to fly down to Paris to brief Marcel. He sends Bertie to mount aerial surveillance over Millham. Bertie spots the Rolls which Canson drives and follows it to Millham House, a large mansion near the aerodrome. He takes aerial photos of the place. Canson Makes a Proposition Canson turns up at Scotland Yard. He tells Biggles he should lay off the investigation otherwise Ginger might meet with "an accident". Biggles now decides that extreme measures are needed and plans a raid on the house to rescue Ginger. But Bertie's photos show large numbers of guard dogs so he sends Bertie off to buy some liver which they drug. Dark Work Gaskin helps Biggles recruit a housebreaker named Badger. They set off for Millham House. Bertie joins them after parking their aircraft at the aerodrome. He has just dropped loads of drugged liver into the grounds of the house to put the dogs out of action. The Raid Badger gets them into the house without trouble and they find Ginger being questioned by Mr X, still wearing a black mask. Mr X asks Biggles to stay to talk but Biggles declines. Canson's Rolls pulls up so Biggles and co. make a hasty retreat out of the house. Now What? Biggles drives to Millham aerodrome and what he expects does happen: Canson or some others rush to the aerodrome and fly off in the Dove. Biggles follows in the Proctor with Bertie, while instructing Ginger to notify Marcel that the Dove is on the way. Back to Nice Biggles meets Marcel at Nice Airport. They spot Rawlings boarding the Dove with a bag. After a few minutes they raid the aircraft and catch Rawlings trying to hide the bag which contains counterfeit currency into the back of an aircraft seat. The French police then raid the photo shop at Rue Baldini and arrest the rest of the gang there, including Canson. Shocks It remains only for Biggles to raid Millham House, which he does with Gaskin. There, they are shocked to discover that instead of a gang of desperate criminals, there is only an old man with two elderly servants. The old man identifies himself as Cedric Adrian Fortescue. He confesses to being the head of the counterfeit currency scheme and proceeds to tell his story. The Strangest Tale of All Fortescue, formerly Mr X, tells them the scheme was not done for money--he is already a rich man--but merely for fun. He had been injured as a pilot during the war and suffers from great pain which no amount of medication can eliminate. For a diversion, he plotted a "perfect crime" to see how far he could beat the police. Fortescue is curious how his "perfect" scheme unraveled. Biggles tells him it all fell apart when he employed Canson--a man with a track record for dishonesty. Canson was bound to attract suspicion. Fortescue explains that he couldn't have known that, but Biggles counters that it couldn't have been otherwise--no honest man would have fallen in with the scheme, so in a way the whole thing has been doomed from the start. Fortescue stresses that he had meant no harm. The abduction of Ginger went against his wishes, and Canson had been sent to Biggles to assure him about Ginger's safety and not to make threats. He shows the police his safe full of the counterfeit notes. They have not been circulated. He used his own money to pay Canson. The strange facts behind the case left Biggles and Gaskin wondering what to do next but Fortescue provides the answer and before anyone can stop him, he swallows a lethal does of poison and dies. Category:Plot summaries